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Wolfpack will try to keep its hopes for bowl alive
N.C. State is set to take on Clemson in Raleigh today
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Published: November 14, 2009
N.C. State's losing streak is over, but the pressure to win is still building.
The Wolfpack (4-5, 1-4 ACC) has three regular-season games left, starting with today's home game against Clemson, and needs to win all three to have a winning record and be eligible for a bowl game. Coach Tom O'Brien won't downplay the difficulty ahead -- State still must play Virginia Tech and North Carolina -- but he has no doubts that his team can complete the run.
"The kids are fighting; nobody's giving up," he said. "They're playing their butts off. We've still got a shot at it, and we're going to play hard in our next three games. Clemson thinks they've got a lot to play for, but so do we."
Clemson (6-3, 4-2) leads the ACC's Atlantic Division and is playing for a spot in the ACC championship game but defensive tackle Leroy Burgess of N.C. State is confident that his team has at least an equal motivation.
"They're high on the mountain right now," Burgess said of Clemson. "They're a little cocky after beating Miami (three weeks ago) and Florida State last week. They're comfortable.
"Seeing our defense, they think they're just going to come in and do their thing and run all over us. We want to go out there and prove to our critics that we can play football."
Clemson has one of the ACC's top backs, C.J. Spiller, and two of its top defensive ends, Ricky Sapp and Da'Quan Bowers.
Spiller has 739 yards rushing, 334 yards receiving, 191 yards on punt returns and 530 yards on kickoff returns. He ranks fourth in the ACC in rushing average (82.1 ypg), averages 5.5 yards a carry and is second in the ACC in kickoff returns (35.3 ypr) and all-purpose yardage (199.3 ypg).
He has five touchdowns rushing and three on kickoff returns, and Clemson officials consider him a candidate for the Heisman Trophy. O'Brien isn't sure that Spiller will win that vote but did say that Spiller is having the best season of any ACC player.
"I don't see anybody who's controlled a game as much as he has, especially in the last couple of weeks," O'Brien said. "He's certainly taken it to a higher level in those games."
Burgess said that Spiller is capable of a game-breaking play at any time and that every Wolfpack defender will have to keep an eye on him.
"You have to; you'd be dumb not to," Burgess said. "You have to know where he is on the field at all times. If you don't, he can gash you."
An offensive line that has been weakened by injuries and has struggled at times will have to keep Sapp and Bowers off quarterback Russell Wilson. Sapp, a senior, has four sacks and 10 tackles for losses, and some teams have used two blockers each against Sapp and Bowers. O'Brien said that N.C. State also could try the strategy, but that doing so might lead to irreparable damage.
"You can get by with it a whole game is they just rush four, but if the start rushing more than four, you're going to end up singled up (one blocker against the other player)," O'Brien said.
"There are times when you just have to say, ‘Forget about it, we're going to have to single you up and do the best that we can.' It's not unlike facing a good quarterback. You can't give them the same look every time."
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